


i've lost the plot again, tell your friends to sharpen their teeth

by Quintessentia



Series: Peanut Gallery [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Everyone Has Issues, Gen, Gore, In Order to Be Loved, Liam Dunbar is Theo Raeken's Anchor, M/M, POV Corey Bryant, Unreliable Narrator, We Must Submit Ourselves to the Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known, a lot more than before because i like writing it, an that makes him an, he has a lot of trauma okay, he's just a little chameleon boy, none of it is his fault, that's it that's the fic, we're back to feral!theo again because i have no self control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 01:42:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29893731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quintessentia/pseuds/Quintessentia
Summary: He watches Theo curl around Liam on the way back, the two of them crammed into Lydia's backseat as she drives them all home, and he feels sick. Theo puts his teeth on Liam's jawline, drags them down to the mark on Liam's shoulder, the one that's scarring over, unhealed. There's blood under his fingernails, Corey can smell it.Outside POV.
Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken
Series: Peanut Gallery [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2191677
Comments: 6
Kudos: 67





	i've lost the plot again, tell your friends to sharpen their teeth

**Author's Note:**

> So I will be writing more of Malia's POV, but Corey had some things to say and he was thinking really loud so I let him talk. 
> 
> Btw, I know that Theo being this...unhinged might be a bit OOC from his actual character, since control is his thing, but I like the idea of a Theo who struggles to find the middle ground between the monster he used to be and the person he is now. I also like the idea of that struggle manifesting itself by turning him a little feral and making him greedily obsessed with taking up all the space around Liam, which isn't even that far off the show's mark, so.
> 
> Title is from And the Snakes Start to Sing by Bring Me The Horizon. It's a very Theo-esque song, and you should listen to it.

Corey thinks that maybe he should be angry.

No one would blame him for it, hell, Mason still looks at him sometimes like he's waiting for Corey to have a break down, start collapsing under the shared weight of their tumultuous lives. He's never been sure if that deep rooted concern is just a by-product of being Liam's best friend, or if it's just Mason being Mason.

He thinks that maybe it might be both.

Speaking of Liam, Corey thinks that maybe he should be angry at him, specifically.

He's still a little angry at Theo, probably always will be, because Corey's encountered a long list of monsters and Theo will always have his place among them, even if that Theo was the Theo who came before. Things are different now, and Corey doesn't hold grudges exactly, but that doesn't mean he can ever forget.

There is no forgetting. Not about anything, not ever.

Sometimes he'll see Theo standing in the corner, arms crossed and face cast in shadow, and Corey feels the memory of before-Theo in his bones. It chills him, the way he associates Theo's dark expressions with the taste of metal and mercury in his mouth, of waking up blank on a tree stump, following a boy who'd been built by evil, for evil.

_You all belong to me_ , before-Theo had said, and Corey still feels sick when he remembers that for a little while, he had.

He's not sure who he belongs to now--himself? Mason? The pack? He's never been a part of anything, and certainly not a family. Corey had died, and he'd been reanimated by a cruel, callous puppeteer who'd wanted--well, not a pack. Not a real one anyways.

He wonders if, legally, that makes him a zombie on top of everything else. It's just one more thing to tack on to the end of his name, one more thing to keep him up at night.

Sometimes they'll be in the same room, Theo a blur in Corey's peripheral vision, and his expression will shift without warning. He'll move, lean against the wall, smirk, and Corey's heart will be in his throat, because there are days where he looks at Theo and all he sees is the before version, like that Theo is just one more monster hidden underneath human skin.

Maybe he's still there, waiting, watching, just another tool in Theo's swiss army knife of a personality; today a lockpick, tomorrow a blade.

Despite that, despite the way now-Theo's eyes glitter just like before-Theo's, Corey thinks that maybe it's Liam he should be angry at this time around.

Whatever Corey sees in Theo nowadays--remnants of their past, of the boy with oil slick smiles and dark eyes--Liam isn't seeing at all, he's pretty sure. How can he?

Liam keeps Theo close, and it's not like before--not a _keep your enemies closer_ way like it had been in the beginning, when he'd first brought Theo back. Corey can see things that other people can't and he hasn't checked, but he thinks if he were brave enough to peek, he might see something _else_ between them. A tether, a ball and chain, a red string--he doesn’t know how it all works, but he knows that it's not accidental, the way they are.

He knows about forgiveness, has tried his hand at it on more than one occasion with mixed results, but this isn't forgiveness, the thing between Theo and Liam.

Liam drags Theo around, bums rides off of him, takes up all the space around Theo like he belongs there, like he's unaware he's sharing air with someone who had evil grafted into his bones from the tender age of nine.

Liam looks at Theo like he doesn't even know, doesn't remember, and that can't be true, because Liam was _there_. Not like Corey was, no, but he was there nonetheless. He knows what Theo did, how Theo had tried to string him along, string him out until he didn't know backwards from forwards, until Liam was foaming at the mouth and barreling towards the edge of sanity like he'd been headed there all along.

He'd been meant to die, in the end, guilty of murder just long enough for Theo to steal that Alpha spark from him with a swipe of his claws. Too easy, a perfect mess, just waiting for someone to put him out of his misery.

That's the Theo that Corey sees, more often than not. The Theo they all see, he thinks. Maybe even the Theo that Theo himself still sees, when he looks in the mirror.

What does Liam see, he wonders, that the rest of them don't?

What does he see when Theo's stuffed himself away in the corner, mouth a dark frown amidst a roundtable discussion and Liam says ' _Theo, what do you think_?'

What does he see when they're fighting in perfect sync, two sides of the same coin and Liam says ' _Theo, on your left_!'

What does he see when Theo rubs up against him like a happy cat, their thighs pressed together on the couch during movie nights and Liam says ' _Teddy, I think you're getting soft on me_.'

What does he see, and why did it take him so long to see any of it in Corey, too?

Liam had every right to mistrust Corey in the beginning, he knows that, but he'd been rude to Mason about it, cold and reluctant around Corey like he'd been an extension of Theo, of something foul.

Now, he watches them bicker over Pop-Tarts in Mason's kitchen, Liam animated while Theo rolls his eyes every time Liam's voice cracks in excitement, and thinks _Irony is a bitch, I guess_.

He knows about blind spots too, and wonders how Theo, of all people, managed to worm his way right into Liam's as if he'd belonged there all along.

He watches Theo shatter the wrist of a hunter who had cracked Liam over the head with a metal pipe, the bone snapping in two as it breaks through the skin. His lips peel back in a silent snarl, eyes yellow and hungry, like he's sucking in the pain instead of taking it, relishing in it.

He watches Theo curl around Liam on the way back, the two of them crammed into Lydia's backseat as she drives them all home, and he feels sick. Theo puts his teeth on Liam's jawline, drags them down to the mark on Liam's shoulder, the one that's scarring over, unhealed. There's blood under his fingernails, Corey can smell it.

_You belong to me._ He remembers. He was there.

Corey wonders if Liam knows what he really pulled up from under the ground, if he even cares.

They're fighting, just another day at the office, because the town isn't going to save itself but no one seems to have clued the hunters in on that little fact.

Corey isn't much of a fighter, had been sticking to the shadows and blending in with the trees as they'd tracked the thing that's been ripping throats and leaving bodies scattered like roadkill along the edges of the Preserve. Naturally, halfway through the expedition, a gaggle of hunters had cut them off, itching to catch a werewolf and mount its head on their walls, most likely.

There had been at least ten hunters and only four of them, though Corey knows they have no idea he's around. Brett had swiped a shotgun from a straggler who looked as though he'd never handled a gun in his life, and he hasn't let it go yet.

Theo and Liam are ducking in and out of the line of fire, stinking of sweat and blood and just a little bit of that thrill that Corey never feels when they're in the middle of a fight. He does his part, though, sneaking up behind a woman and landing a chop to her neck, taking her out in one swift move as he grabs her gun and tosses it far, far away into the trees.

It's because of that, maybe, that he doesn't hear the rest of them coming.

Three more hunters break into the clearing, and if Corey hadn't known they were human, he'd have thought that the man in front was a wolf himself, the way he grins, sharp and wide when he sees Liam.

"There he is!" he shouts, the sound like a rally call in the midst of the fight, and suddenly every eye is trained on him. The fighting halts momentarily, and Corey doesn't recognize the guy for shit, but the rest of the hunters do, apparently.

"That's the beta she's looking for!" he announces, waving his gun in Liam's direction, and the air goes toxic at that. Every single hunter still standing fixes their gaze on Liam, the guy pushing his way through them with his rifle in the air, trained at Liam's head.

Twin snarls rip through the air, and Corey sees Theo and Liam's eyes flash in tandem.

"Fucker," Theo hisses, but he's nearly ten feet from Liam, at least two hunters between them.

The guy ignores him, eyes sticking to Liam where the beta is half shifted, blood spattered across his shirt.

"She wants him alive," the guy says aloud, grimly satisfied. "This one's special."

Liam just tilts his head, an unamused rumble in his chest, eyes bright gold in the darkness. Corey gets it, knows Liam must too. The only thing the hunters want more than getting their hands on Scott is getting their hands on Liam. True Alpha's Beta, first bitten, all that. Scott knows it, Liam knows it, the hunters know it.

Theo knows it too, if the noise he makes is any indication.

"I'm only going to tell you once," he says, mouth full of _teeth_. "Point that fucking thing somewhere else."

There's a moment of silence, not even a cricket chirping in the distance. The guy takes a breath, nods his head and says, "Okay," before tilting the gun downward and shooting Liam in the stomach.

Theo goes _berserk_.

Corey sees Liam crumple to the ground with a pained howl, blood seeping into the fabric of his shirt as his legs buckle, but his noises of pain are drowned out by the horrified shrieks coming from the hunters around him. One of them reaches for Liam, like they're planning on trying to drag him away in the midst of the chaos, but Brett's on them, knocking them clean out with a punch before turning to fend off two more.

Theo is a blur, two bodies lying still behind him and Corey's ears ring, his hearing stretching back and forth like a rubber band as he debates with cold horror if he should listen for their heartbeats or not, afraid of what he might not find.

There's a terrible crack as Theo grabs two more, smashing their heads together, blood spurting through the split skin like juice from an overripe fruit, and he tosses them aside. His face is fully shifted, terrible and twisted beneath the moonlight as he roars in the face of a hunter who turns tail and _runs_ like he's not gripping a shotgun in both hands.

He doesn't make it very far, not with Theo's claws raking across his back in a brutal swipe. The guy goes down, but Theo pays him no mind as he sends a fist careening into another hunter's temple, sending them flying back far enough to knock them out even without the accompanying punch.

Liam is still on the ground, hunched into himself, blood dripping from his mouth in dark strings as Theo sets his sights on the guy who'd shot him, his gun now empty of bullets. Two of them are lodged somewhere in Theo's body, the blooming, red stain on his shoulder a tell tale sign of where at least one had met flesh and burrowed deep.

The snarl that leaves Theo's mouth is truly animal, truly _awful_ to hear when he gets his hands on the the hunter who'd downed Liam with a smile on his face.

" _You_ ," he spits, the word like crumpled paper as his fingers close around the man's lower jaw, claws pricking at the skin. The man groans, the sound tapering off into a whimper as Theo's grip tightens, the bones grinding against one another. "I said I'd only tell you _once_."

The answering scream is choked, wet and half-suffocated by the blood that fills the hunter's mouth. Theo's claws pierce right through skin, poking clean holes in the pouch of the man's cheek, and Corey fights the rising nausea as he hears the rip of flesh. He can see the man's jaw being pried off its hinges, smells the fear and the anger as Theo chokes him on his own blood, and then Liam cries out.

Theo freezes, claws still sunken into skin as the man thrashes in his grip.

"Theo," Liam growls, spitting blood onto the dry grass. "Theo, that's _enough_."

That earns him a snarl, the man sobbing as his blood runs down Theo's arm in rivulets, disappearing into the sleeve of his shirt.

"He shot you," Theo says, in the same voice as before-Theo, the one Corey sees when he closes his eyes, like a photo-negative of the person Liam thinks he pulled out of hell. "He was going to _take_ you."

"I've been shot before." Liam says it like it's just a fact of life, and it is, but that doesn't make it okay and for a moment Corey feels some hot, vicious tendril of rage curl in his own gut. "I'll be shot again, Theo. You can't avoid it."

"Maybe not," the answer is bitter, Theo's voice cracking around it like the words don't fit in his mouth, like he doesn't want to admit them, "but I can make him pay for trying."

"No." Liam's voice wavers, and Corey's eyes are drawn to where his hands are cupped over the gunshot wound, blood seeping through his fingers. "You can't do this Theo, this isn't who you are. Not anymore."

"I don't care." Corey isn't surprised, not at the admission of what he already knew, but it feels hollow, like a confirmation of something he'd never hoped to be true.

"I do!" Liam shouts, grief-laden. "I care about you, Theo, I _know_ you." He slumps, his breath hitching as it turns into a shadow of a laugh. "I know you're afraid, I get it, but at least let me help, I mean--I'm the one with all the experience here, remember?"

Theo's posture falters, the arm holding the man aloft shaking as he snarls again, and for one, horrible moment, Corey thinks he's going to crush the hunter's jaw like it's made of wet cardboard. The clearing stinks of fear and injury, of Theo's rage and Liam's desperation. Corey can hardly breathe through it all, the stench settling thickly in the back of his throat, filling his lungs.

Then Theo drops the hunter, no, _tosses_ him like a rag doll into the dirt. His fingers pop out of the holes in the man's face with slick, sucking noises, more blood gushing free as the guy moans in agony.

"Theo…" Liam takes another breath, starts to say something, and then Theo roars again. Once, twice, a _third_ time, right in the hunter's bloody, mutilated face. The man cowers, a pathetic lump in the dirt as Theo all but deafens him with the sound of his own struggle.

When he quiets, shoulders heaving and arm stained red up to the shoulder, Theo turns and looks at Liam. Corey can't move, still hasn't breathed in what feels like hours, but the fear is receding, melting away into something like sorrow, and it's all encompassing in a different kind of way. Like a wave washing across them all, instead of thick smoke billowing around their heads, stealing their oxygen.

Liam holds a hand out, the one that's not keeping his insides on the inside of him, and he reaches for Theo.

Theo whines.

"It's okay," Liam murmurs, thready but determined. "I see you Theo, I _see_ you. It's okay, baby, they can't hurt us anymore. You don't have to be afraid."

Theo crosses the gap between them in a stumble that he still manages to make look graceful, and he gathers Liam in his arms, nose pressing against his jaw.

"You're okay," Liam reassures him, breathing still shaky. "We're okay, it's all okay."

"You're bleeding," Theo grunts out, almost clinical as he adjusts Liam in his hold. "Are you healing?"

Liam snorts. "There's a bullet somewhere in my intestines, I think," he notes, mimicking Theo's carefully neutral tone. "We should probably get to the hospital."

"Hell of an understatement," Brett scoffs, hoisting his stolen shotgun over one shoulder. "It's nice that you two had a moment and all, but it's gonna take more than that to restore the integrity of Liam's insides, I'm pretty sure."

"You'll be the one worrying about the integrity of your insides if you don't shut the hell up," Liam replies, mostly good naturedly. Brett just laughs, but it's weaker than usual as he watches Theo hoist Liam up, bridal style.

Corey takes a step forward, watches all three of them take notice of him again, as though they'd forgotten he'd been hiding amongst the treeline, and he realizes with sharp certainty that he's visible again.

"So," he croaks, rubbing a hand along the back of his neck. "Hospital?"

Later, when Liam's on the mend, laid up on the couch after a brief trip to the emergency room, Corey finds himself thinking again.

' _I see you_ ,' Liam had said, like he'd _known_. And he must, Corey realizes, he must know about all of it. He must see it, the before-Theo and the now-Theo, two beasts under one skin, warring for dominance.

He must love it, regardless.

What must that be like, he wonders--to be seen, and loved anyways? Corey's never been seen by anyone--not his own parents, his teachers, nor anyone at school for as long as he can remember. Mason's the only person, up until recently, who'd ever bothered to try. There's a joke in there, a bitter pun about _invisibility_ that Corey doesn't do himself the disservice of allowing to manifest fully, but he still finds the good humor to laugh about it.

Liam runs his hand through Theo's hair, the other boy propped up against Liam's bent legs, chin resting on his knees as he peers down at Liam's face.

Brett nudges him, raising an eyebrow when Corey turns to look, and then he snorts, gesturing at the two of them on the couch.

"This is a hell of a plot twist," he says, amicable disbelief coloring his voice. "Are you seeing this, man?"

"Yeah," Corey says, and thinks privately, _Yeah, I guess I am_.

**Author's Note:**

> Theo is not actually evil in this, I should point out. Not like he was before, anyways. Corey is, for all intents and purposes, an unreliable narrator in this scenario, because his view of Theo is colored by his trauma--that is, the trauma that Theo himself is responsible for. While that's completely valid, it doesn't mean that the version of Theo he thinks he sees is who Theo actually is anymore. People do change, but PTSD is--well, yeah.
> 
> Feedback is loved and appreciated. <3


End file.
